Blu-ray 4K Officially Named “Ultra HD Blu-ray”; Will Its Specs Be Enough to Revitalize Physical Media?

I’m always circumspect when it comes to replacing my old DVDs with Blu-rays. I weigh the price, the need for a high-quality image, special features, etc. DVDs were the savior of studios in the 2000s, but the Blu-ray market hasn’t surged because people didn’t see the point of getting a new player and replacing their DVDs, and even though the Blu-ray market is steady, people are more interested in streaming and easy rentals online or at Redbox.

In the past couple of years, 4K Blu-rays have been released to take advantage of expensive new 4K televisions, and now the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) tells The Digital Bits that 4K Blu-rays will officially be known as “Ultra HD Blu-ray”. More importantly, a list of specs has been released for what these discs will provide, and what they will require.

Here are the specs for Ultra HD Blu-ray [via The Digital Bits]:

Will employ High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC – also known as H.265), which is the successor to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC and is considered the most efficient video compression standard available.

Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs will be produced in two configurations: 66GB dual-layer and 100GB triple-layer.

The ultimate goal of Ultra HD is to future-proof the format, and give “filmmakers filmmakers and content producers a great deal of room to work, and lots of headroom to add image quality going forward, as display manufactures roll out future and ever more capable UHD displays.”

But there are complications. First, Ultra HD Blu-ray will require a new player. We don’t know how much it will cost, nor do we know the price of the discs. Additionally, image precision doesn’t seem to be a priority among average consumers. Shows like The Wire are being “remastered for HD”, but they’re losing their original aspect ratio. There’s more demand to fill a wide screen and avoid upsetting people who don’t understand a 4:3 ratio. And anecdotally, I grit my teeth when I go over to someone’s home and their TV has motion smoothing that makes everything but live television and nature documentaries look like a soap opera. They don’t seem to notice or mind.

These are the people we’re expecting to buy another player and replace their movies again? And even if it’s just for a new movies rather than re-mastering old ones, this will compete with streaming unlimited content for a low monthly price? I feel like we’re moving back to the age of Laserdisc where cinephiles will pay a premium for high-quality content, and everyone else will be satisfied with a cheaper, lower-quality product.

It was bound to happen. But these days I believe physical media is on the way out much more now then 10 years ago.

Formally known as SUPER-BLUR [2010-2013] and now known as KAL [2005-2010/2014-]

people I talk to at work download, but they are much younger then me. I prefer to buy the movies I like, I think the older generation do and the younger ones don't these days. 10 years ago everyone would but now I reckon they prefer to save on space and have a hard drive of movies which is easier to access. but they can crash.

every decade they always try to bring out a new format and it can go both ways. Beta and VHS, Laser Disc and DVD, HD-DVD and Blu Ray and now Blu Ray and Ultra HD Blu Ray. it probably won't take off like they hope it would.

I still buy dvds, they are cheap and the quality is watchable. I do own Blu Rays but only for certain types of movies. I'm not fussed on quality, I buy dvds cheap from Cash Converters. but as long as people still buy movies, they'll still be around. it's just not the same scrolling through pages of titles.

I recently bought a huge 75 inch 4K Ultra HD TV with High Dynamic Range as well as 3D with built in Netflix. it's a awesome TV but I only own The Revenant, the picture quality is great but at the same time I'm not completely blown away by it. Blu Ray looks good but this particular UHD disc doesn't look as good as everyone makes it out to be, I compared the Blu Ray (on a older to before upgrading) and it looks the same. I plan to buy more at a cheaper price, would you recommend any? I hear Lucy is the best one. I'm always looking up YouTube reviews.

also I really wish TV's in general would have the best settings automatically set, cause after doing some research you gotta tweak the settings a little bit, all the setting names are foreign to me.

I've got a few movies on 4K UHD Blu Ray and I'm not all that impressed, normal Blu Ray looks just fine to me but it doesn't look any better in 4K. I haven't yet watched a full movie but skipped through chapters. doesn't pop out much as a WOW type of transfer. I have heard Billy Lynn, Sully and Lucy are the best transfers out there, don't own them at the moment. I have Billy Lynn ordered and on the way from Amazon, it contains the 3D version while the Australian release doesn't. same goes for Ghostbusters and Passengers, no 3D version in our releases.

I have so far - Revenant, Batman v Superman, Passengers and Ghostbusters. Bully Lynn and Star Trek 1&2 are ordered and on the way.

like I said I'm not all that impressed, maybe it's my TV but I have done some experiments with the settings, I have a dark cinema type of room that my 75 inch is in. I initially chose theatre/cinema mode but it just makes the picture even darker, I also had turned the backlight off to 0 as white shadows appear in the black widescreen bars and was annoying. but now I have chosen standard mode with backlights pushed up to 20. the black bars are my biggest problem, on the top and bottom of the screen they aren't jet black, fixing the backlight fixes that but at the same time doesn't make the picture quality look any better for the HDR to look good.